After a while, when I was about four years old, our family traveled across the North American continent by Amtrak train and we made it to Oregon... And that’s where I have been for the past 16 years, stuck (but not for much longer!) in this pathetic little city which is called Eugene. It’s like a bottomless pit here, that, as it seems to me, once you land into, you can’t get out of… This town is like a mildew-encrusted wasteland filled to the brim with what I would call usual American ugliness: a landscape of endless parking lots, freeways, flat tar roofs, and boxy buildings... strip mall after strip mall after strip mall… Even its local newspaper once had characterized Eugene as a “butt-ugly town.” I think it’s impossible to accurately summarize the truly abysmal state of this town... But, on the other hand, it’s not really that different from any other American city or town, all of which are simply ugly when compared to any European city…

What makes me hate this town most are various mental retards, hippies, and the rest of the assorted degenerates here that make Eugene so repulsive and utterly detestable. This place is quite simply like the meeting spot of all the scum of the earth. Other cities may be larger and thus have a larger population of crazy people, but they just aren’t as bizarre or as visible as the crazies that Eugene has to offer. Living here, one simply can’t avoid seeing all these hordes of “Deadheads” sleeping under every other bush… It’s like an ever-present freak show or lunatic asylum... Many of them have these Rastafarian roly-poly dreadlocks that I think are home to entire “civilizations” of vermin and other unspeakable horrors that boggle the mind, and they also smell like a dead skunk. They’re a real stomach-turner! Supposedly this assortment of freaks makes Eugene one of the most “eclectic,” “artsy,” and “liberal” towns in the Pacific Northwest. I absolutely disagree.

Well, nevertheless, this is still not really the worst place in the world, especially compared to America’s larger cities, most of which are real hell holes. At least it’s not too dangerous here in Eugene, although, in the many years that I’ve lived here, I’ve clearly noticed a yearly increase in crime due to swelling numbers of illegal immigrants. I remember how Eugene used to be the sort of place where my parents and I weren’t afraid to walk at night, but I recently noticed an article in a travel guide about Oregon that warns tourists not to venture into some parts of Eugene even during the day.

However, for now, while I am still living here, I’ve tried to make the most of it. Eugene, yes, is ugly, but the state of Oregon is not... That’s why I often travel all over Oregon with my parents, enjoying its very beautiful nature. Oregon is, no doubt, one of the most beautiful states in the USA. We have everything here — snow-capped mountains, sparkling lakes, mighty waterfalls, old-growth forests, a high desert, and a very beautiful Pacific Ocean coast. Together with my dad I’ve climbed some of the most impressive mountain peaks here, a few of which are almost 12 000 feet high. A couple of years ago, for example, we scaled South Sister here in Oregon and also Mt. Shasta in California. But mountain climbing actually isn’t my most favorite pastime and usually I enjoy even more simply hiking in a forest. There are some so-called “rainforests” here that have trees almost as tall and thick as the sequoias in California. Check out my PHOTO ALBUM to see pictures of all the places I’ve been to. I not only travel around Oregon, but I’ve been to Utah’s gorgeous National Parks (Bryce Canyon is my favorite, but I’ve been to Arches, Escalante, Natural Bridges and many other beautiful spots), and I’ve climbed the Grand Tetons in Wyoming and seen the geysers in Yellowstone. In California I’ve visited Yosemite, Zion, and Lake Tahoe, but it’s my dream to someday travel to Canada and Alaska and experience the true wilderness over there. So the outdoors is one of the few things that I enjoy in America and will miss once I leave.

One thing that I have not mentioned yet, but believe to be of utmost importance is that although I’ve spent my life so far in the United States of America, I am most definitely, absolutely, not an American. Both my parents originally came here from the European country of Lithuania. They came to the USA before I was born, so it wasn’t really my own choice to live here and not elsewhere. In fact, I always did, always do, and always will consider myself a Lithuanian. I love Lithuania and am a true Lithuanian patriot! I am fluent in the language (taip, lietuviškai aš kalbu nepraščiau už anglų) and am fascinated in the history and culture of Lithuania. Although I’ve been there only four times (most recently in summer of 2009), Lithuania feels much more like my homeland than America. As a matter of fact, I don’t like the United States of America at all. I definitely agree with what the famous writer Arthur Miller had said about America in his book Black Spring, that it is “spreading disaster” and, indeed, is like a “black curse upon the world.” This is why I would definitely prefer to live elsewhere.

But no matter how miserable and boring I think it is, I’m still stuck here for a little while longer. I wait impatiently for the day when I finally will be able to get the hell out of here and move to Europe. I will be graduating university (more about my education later) in Spring of 2010, so I hope to hop on a plane right after I get my diploma and fly back to my true home — Lithuania. After spending nearly three months there this summer, I realized that Lithuania is the one place where I feel truly at home. When I’m there, I literally have a feeling of peace and belonging, it’s hard to explain, but I believe the best way to describe it is “call of the blood.” I’m only a first generation Lithuanian-American, I have not lost my roots like many children of immigrants unfortunately do, and my parents raised me to always think of America as a temporary prison, that Lithuania was the land of my ancestors, and the place where I must spend the rest of my life. So, next year I will complete one step of my life and move on the next, which will be living in Lithuania for a whole year. I want to go to the University of Oslo in Norway to study Medieval History (specializing on the Vikings) for two years so I would get my Master’s Degree thetr, and then I will move back to Lithuania for good. Hopefully I will be able to complete my Ph.D. there and get my dream job as a historian specializing in the ancient ties between the Balts and the Vikings.

I think now is the time to tell a little about my curious educational history. Here’s an interesting fact — I didn’t go to elementary, middle, or high school. Yes, I am serious. I only went to an American public school for kindergarten and part of first grade. When I was in first grade, the school I went to was plagued by an epidemic of disgusting parasites — lice. As you can guess, my parents didn’t really appreciate me being in such a “wild” environment, and so, without a second thought, they decided to create our own school at home, just for me. This is called homeschooling, and I’m not alone in doing such an unusual thing. As far as I know, almost two million kids in the United States study at home. And guess what? More and more of such “unschooled” students are becoming winners of Spelling Bees, Geography Bees, and other kinds of academic competitions. This shows that homeschoolers achieve much better results then those of kids wasting their precious time at regular public schools. If you are curious to find out more about my experiences in homeschooling, then click HERE. I “graduated” my “home school” at 16, and immediately began attending university. You may have done the math and wondered how can I be graduating university at only 20 years of age. Well, it’s because I started nearly three years earlier than most. At first I was really shy and scared, since I thought I would be the youngest kid in all my classes, but I actually met quite a few other 16-year olds in my first year at university. They all turned out to be homeschoolers as well, so it kind of boosted my self esteem, I realized that I shouldn’t be ashamed of being so young, but, rather proud that I will be one of the younger students to graduate in my senior year.

The college that I’m going to is the University of Oregon. I’m double majoring in Art History and Medieval Studies. At first I wanted to major just in History, but I was disappointed to learn that history majors are required to attend too many classes outside my personal realm of interest. I naively thought that I could get a degree in history by learning only European ancient and medieval history, and I didn’t even think that a larger part of my education would have to include Asian, American, African histories, which are subjects that don’t interest me in the slightest. That’s why I chose Art History. You can never go wrong with art, any and all art is interesting, and I’ve been lucky to attend extremely varied classes, ranging from Baroque religious art in Mexico, to the art of the Scythians, and everything in between, including Gothic Architecture, art of India, Italian Baroque, Roman Architecture. My Medieval Studies major is particularly interesting, since it encompasses not only history, but also art, literature, languages, music. I can honestly say, as my four years at university are coming to an end, that I have really enjoyed all the things that I learned. Click HERE to see and read a collection of some essays and papers that I have written for my classes. Quite a few are on rather fascinating subjects, so I think they might be a rather interesting read.

I know that most “About Me” pages on websites focus mainly on the author’s hobbies. Well, I don’t know if I could ever fit all my hobbies into just a few paragraphs. Look at it this way: this whole website is supposed to reflect me as an individual, so anything you see and read here is something that I’m interested in (I’m also not afraid to talk about things that I don’t like, as you will see too). But just to give you a short idea of what I enjoy most, two words can describe my main interests: Romuva and Vikings. I have been a follower of Lithuania’s native pagan religion for almost year now, although I have had a scholarly interest in it for even longer. I am proud to say that I am a Romuva pagan, and not only am I member of that community, but I am also involved (and once I move to Lithuania, I will be an even more avid follower) in the youth group Devyniaragis, which stems from Romuva, but is aimed towards young people who want to help in the rebirth of Lithuania’s ancient traditions and culture. You can go to the Romuva page and read a lot more about all of this. My other hobby is Scandinavian pre-Christian history and mythology. I have a scholarly interest in the Scandinavian pagan rebirth of Asatru, and one of my biggest passions is Norse Mythology. I simply adore the many myths and legends of the Vikings, and if someone gets me talking on the Poetic Edda, it will me difficult to shut me up, because it is one of my absolute favorite books and I can talk about the Havamal and Voluspa for hours on end. In fact, my friends in Lithuania have given me the nickname Loki, not only because of my mischievous character, but also because he is my favorite Norse deity, and I love the Lokasenna. Recently I have been fascinated in the relationship between Norse mythology and Lithuanian folklore. The problem is that there is almost no real Lithuanian mythology, things such as the creation myth, or the world tree, and other tropes are easier found hidden in the many folk songs. In fact, Romuva likes to be known as “singing paganism,” since songs and hymns are absolutely the most important part of any ritual. Any member of Romuva would say that if you cannot sing the hymn to the thunder god Perkunas, or if you cannot worship the sacred fire Gabija with a song, than you simply can’t communicate with the gods. I love Lithuanian folk music. Many songs have reached our times barely unchanged since the middle ages, and a few have had to be reinterpreted, but they are the most beautiful expression of Lithuanian spirituality. To a foreigner they may sound a little strange and archaic, but I doubt anyone could argue that the songs of Kūlgrinda (the official group that performs the ritual music of Romuva, and they are led by the high priest/Krivis himself) do not have some sort of mystical effect on the listeners.

I see that I’ve become a little sidetracked, but I did warn that it’s hard to concisely describe my interests. You can read a lot more about my favorite types of music on the Music page. I used to have a list of my favorite heavy metal bands over there, but I’ve really grown out of that (although I won’t deny that a little power metal is still my guilty pleasure) and my musical tastes have become more sophisticated. Another passion of mine is art. That’s one of the reasons why I’m majoring in Art History at university. Of course, I’m rather picky about what art I like, and I’m rather old fashioned in that sense. I think most modern art is absolute crap, and I think that the biggest masterpieces are from the Renaissance and the few centuries that followed. You can read more about my favorite art and artists HERE. I’m an avid reader, and will devour books about anything. I used to like fiction books a lot, and like any teenager I was a fan of Lord of the Rings and other fantasy literature, but over the past few years I’ve kind of stopped reading fiction in favor of other types of books, mainly non-fiction about paganism, philosophy, history, and any random subject that captures my fancy. Although I may not read a lot of fine literature, I am true devotee of the art of poetry. Just as I am a mediocre artist, I can barely write poetry, but that does not keep me from considering beautiful poetry to be the highest cultural achievement of mankind. There’s a rather interesting fact about me and poetry, so go HERE to find out. Honestly, there is very little that I’m not interested in and am not willing to try out. I’ve acted in several plays and I enjoy theater a lot. As a child I danced ballet, so going to a ballet performance is a treat. I like to draw and do all sorts of crafts. I only recently became interested in living history reconstruction. Until I went to Lithuania and saw it with my own eyes, I used to have really poor opinion of what is known as “reenactment” here in America. I still believe that the Society for Creative Anachronism is absolutely ridiculous and pathetic, so I used to think that SCA-reenactors were only people who thought of themselves as snobbier versions of those who engage in childish Lord of the Rings live action role-playing. But what I saw in Lithuania blew my mind, and I was lucky to actually take part in several major festivals. You can read about living history reconstruction in Lithuania and elsewhere in Europe on the History page. But let’s just say that I really want to become even more involved in this scene, so that requires me to learn quite a few crafts. So far I’ve been practicing my sewing and embroidery skills, as well as learning the ancient art of tablet/card weaving. By the way, my portrait at the top of this page was taken at the XV Wolin-Jomsborg Festival in Poland (Festiwal Slowian I Wikingow). What looks like a slab of wood on my knees is actually a Lithuanian stringed instrument called kankles. I went there with the Lithuanian experimental archeology club Pajauta

That’s about it. Use the top bar to navigate through the rest of my website. The layout might sometimes be confusing, but I hope that accidentally stumbling on all sorts of pages will just be more fun. I’m rather ashamed that for many years my website had been lying dormant without any significant updates, but I honestly hope that this will change. I can’t promise new things every week, but considering how much I want to say and show, I’m sure there will be enough updates in the future to keep this site interesting every time you visit. So, I hope you enjoy your stay, thanks for visiting, and, when you’re done, please don’t forget to sign in my guestbook. I may not get back to you immediately, but I love reading feedback, comments, and even constructive criticism. Let me know what you think!

Click here to see my photo album.

Also, feel free to visit my other website, the Savitri Devi Archive, which is my tribute to the Aryan philosopher Savitri Devi. The Archive contains most of her books, information and documents on Savitri Devi's life, as well as works of secondary and collateral literature that illuminate her life and work.